Schengen Area - Boat vs. Yacht Length = A Consistent Bill Rate

[Timoqueg]

Most of my sailing experience in blue water has been in the Pacific, both Eastern and Western. Thus, I have a question about docking fees as related to length, specifically as related to France and Greece. I have read that in the Schengen Area, a yacht and its associated fees start at 32 feet, while a boat under 32 feet is considered a "boat." As if the Greek harbor officer is going to collect it in the first place, is the dock bill consistent enough that one would carefully weigh the pros & cons of buying a 28 footer vs. a 36 footer. From France to Greece, do they "consistently" look at your boat paperwork, see the LOA, and bill you accordingly? In the Western Pacific, I would have to answer yes to that. However, how about the Schengen Area as one set of regulations? Even Greece? Is it anywhere near a consistent bill that accordingly "size does matter"?

[sailormed]

As far as I am aware off, there is no overall rule in the Med. Sometimes you get billed by length, sometimes by surface, length x beam. Othertimes I get billed by the length of the above boat size because my boat is to wide for my size. And then there is Italy, in most harbours you have a rule for every pontoon. Every pontoon is owned by a family and they charge based on whatever suits them, tme of day, season, neighbours price, occupancy of their jetty, etc. And of course you can negociate. If so send your wife in bikini for negociating, it works . For Greece I have no information
Conclusion: Buy the boat thats suits you and forget about length and costs.

[Timoqueg]

Sailormed,

I hope I can return the favor someday, thank you. I have noticed that there are sites online where you can "book your dock," yet on the other hand, I have also read logs by skippers who went from Malta to Egypt and paid next to nothing for fees. Unlike the Western Pacific where things can be more "by the book," assuming you can get a copy of the book. Your information is invaluable, thank you.

[Kenomac]

Buy youself a good anchor like an Ultra, it’ll pay for itself quickly in the Med. I paid less than 300 euros over a six month period last year fo moorings in the Med. Anchored for free 95% of the time.

[Timoqueg]

Thank you, Kenomac ...

[Toys_with_time]

Originally Posted by Timoqueg

Most of my sailing experience in blue water has been in the Pacific, both Eastern and Western. Thus, I have a question about docking fees as related to length, specifically as related to France and Greece. I have read that in the Schengen Area, a yacht and its associated fees start at 32 feet, while a boat under 32 feet is considered a "boat." As if the Greek harbor officer is going to collect it in the first place, is the dock bill consistent enough that one would carefully weigh the pros & cons of buying a 28 footer vs. a 36 footer. From France to Greece, do they "consistently" look at your boat paperwork, see the LOA, and bill you accordingly? In the Western Pacific, I would have to answer yes to that. However, how about the Schengen Area as one set of regulations? Even Greece? Is it anywhere near a consistent bill that accordingly "size does matter"?

In Greek ports the fees are now collected by the local council not the Port Police and therefore they collect them on a much higher % of the time. Fees are based on length but are not expensive ranging in our case for a 40’ cat from 5 Euros to 9 Euros per night plus electricity and water based on usage. The Greek islands have so many great anchorages that you don’t need to use the ports very often and you can often anchor in the bay just off the port for free and row in. Marinas in Greece, and there aren’t that many of them, range in price and we have paid up to 70 Euros which is still cheap compared to the price of many Western Med marinas where it has ranged up to 300 Euros. Overall Greece is still a wonderful and relatively inexpensive cruising ground.
TwT

[LongRange]

My experience of costs in Greece squares up with what Toys_with_time said. In general, costs are low. Anchorages are free, town quays range in cost from say €5 to €15, and even then they only seem to collect those fees 50% of the time, if that, and marinas are about €50 per night for our 45' mono.

By contrast, in Italy we had to budget for about €100 each and every night, because that's what the marinas typically cost (avoid Salerno - the new marina there is an expensive hole devoid of services beyond overpriced cafes). The Italian coast, while of course picturesque, is amazingly unindented and devoid of anchorages.

[Franziska]

By my experience, the rules tend to be local.
The Med is an expensive area by now.

Many marinas look up beam and length in the documents and charge accordingly.
Multihulls usually pay a 50% premium.

Many marinas will also check for insurance if you stay longer.

Best is to anchor, but in some areas, like Croatia, they even try to charge you for that. It's getting worse every year.
Croatia also pushed up the cruising permit prices considerably in 2018.